CT Minimum Wage Workers To Get A Pay Boost In January: New Law

CONNECTICUT — The state's lowest paid workers will see a little something extra in their paychecks after the first of the year.

Connecticut’s minimum wage will increase from the current rate of $15.00 per hour to $15.69 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2024.

The boost is a result of the state’s first-ever economic indicator adjustment and required under legislation signed in 2019. The new law implemented five incremental increases in the minimum wage between 2019 and 2023, followed by future adjustments that are tied to the percentage change in the federal employment cost index.

The law requires the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Labor to review this percentage change and then announce any adjustments by October 15 of each year. The minimum wage adjustments become effective on the next January 1.

DoL Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo has reported that the employment cost index increased by 4.6 percent over the twelve-month period ending on June 30, accounting for a $0.69 increase to the state’s minimum wage that will become effective Jan. 1.

"This increase will benefit Connecticut’s 160,000 to 200,000 minimum wage workers and help offset some of the effects of national economic challenges, such as higher energy costs and interest rates," Bartolomeo said in a news release.

Moving forward under this new law, Connecticut workers and employers may anticipate announcements by October 15 of each year declaring the change in the minimum wage that will become effective on January 1 of the approaching year.